by C.K. Prahalad (from his new column in the Harvard Business Review):

The global financial crisis of the past two years has triggered an unprecedented debate about managers’ roles. While discussions about managerial performance, CEO pay, and the role of boards have been fierce, scant attention has been paid to managers’ responsibilities.

For the past 33 years, I have ended all my MBA and executive education courses by sharing with participants my perspective on how they can become responsible managers. I acknowledge that they will be successful in terms of income, social status, and influence, but caution that managers must remember that they are the custodians of society’s most powerful institutions. They must therefore hold themselves to a higher standard. Managers must strive to achieve success with responsibility.

My remarks are intended to serve as a spur for people to reexamine their values before they plunge into their daily work routines. Take a minute to study them:

On the anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ fall, the question remains: What, if anything, has changed in the mentality of the financial community? While Wall Street wallows in tales of the fallen, a different, more promising approach to capitalism is rising.

Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer products company, has just announced a stunning new business strategy to jump-start growth. It begins in a startling, almost counterintuitive way — with company values and sense of purpose. Invoke the heart and care about human needs, the strategy seems to say, and the money will follow.

This essay explores the relationship between commerce and culture in the context of the recent debate over the social effect of Wal-Mart. In spite of much public debate, little is known about how Wal-Mart affects values. Using data collected from multiple sources, we show there is little evidence that Wal-Mart makes communities more conservative or more progressive.

“Character is the most important trait of a leader — defined as always putting the needs of the organization above your own. The officer eats last. … If your ambition is for the organization, people will follow you. If you’re a leader whose ambition is all for your self, people will figure that out.”